The article above really described my case. Left IT back in early 2000 and when I was job hunting back then, I already saw the demand/desire was really dropping. Of course, the tech crash happened too. That said, IT jobs were very commoditized already with a lot of foreign born engineers and offshoring done. This will be true with web 2.0 when something new hits. The good thing with web 2.0 is that it’s a lot cheaper to start companies now and if you’re young, your expenses are low. Then again, facebook has tons of engineers so maybe it’s not so bad really.
I’m sure there were areas which were hot, but when you have worked for a number of years being hammered with projects and lack of time in general, it’s nearly impossible to stay ahead with the latest and greatest technologies on your own time.
Anytime you work for a company, it’s nearly impossible to have the time to just code, do whatever to keep up, worst if you have a family/spouse.
I don’t think some people realize it, but anyone working for someone else could be one layoff away from never finding work again. You could be a rock star now, but after 10 years, the market changes a ton.
I read all the time that there is all this pent up demand for engineers and CS people, but no company really wants to even try to retrain you much. Best shot you have as always is if you know someone at the company, network/beg for the work. As I loss interest in tech in general, just hard to really be motivated to do the grind anymore.
Before leaving tech and my last job, never had trouble finding work, always had above average raises, worked at multiple startups, but sorta glad I left I guess. Pay/benefits and perks were nice though.
